Published on Tuesday, 06 November 2012 23:04 | Written by Administrator

Jerry Barnes easily won the west Pickens commission seat, while incumbent Sharon Troglin won a tight race for tax commissioner in the two local races on Tuesday’s ballot.

Barnes handily defeated democrat Sally Sue Bradley to join Becky Denney and Commission Chair Rob Jones as the first multi-member board of commissioners. Barnes took 84 percent of the votes from the western district.

Barnes said following the vote Tuesday, that the seven months of campaigning including the primary and this race had been tough, but he looks forward to getting to work. He cited the courthouse project and budget issues as top priorities.

“We’ll have folks with different ideas coming together,” he said. “I believe we can make a difference.”

In the other local race, Sharon Troglin, who ran as an independent, defeated former Nelson Mayor David Leister running as a republican, 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent. Troglin finished with 6,235 to Leister’s 5,778.

Pickens voters showed a strong preference for Mitt Romney over Barack Obama in the presidential race with the challenger taking 83 percent of the 12,671 cards cast here.

Pickens voters also gave wide margins of victory to the the two Republicans in the congressional races here with Tom Graves and Doug Collins winning handily.